The present invention relates to a method for producing a gloss image on an image recording medium and an apparatus for making the gloss image on the image recording medium.
In one conventional image recording apparatus, a recording medium is of transfer type recording medium such as a photosensitive sheet which comprises a microcapsule sheet (first image recording medium) and a developer sheet (second image recording medium). More specifically, in the transfer type recording mediums, the developer material is coated on a separate substrate as a separate developer or copy sheet. The first image recording medium comprises a photosensitive pressure sensitive recording medium provided with microcapsules which encapsulate therein a first material (chromogenic material or dye precursor) having first and second phases dependent on light exposure. The second image recording medium comprises the developer medium provided with a second material (developer material) which provides an output image upon reaction with the first material. The developer sheet includes a base substrate, the developer material layer and a surface resin layer. Such image recording medium is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,209 and Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 58-88739.
As is well know, the image recording apparatus of this type irradiates light onto an original and a light reflected from the original or transmitted therethrough passes through an optical system such as a reflection mirror, a filter and lenses, and is focused on the photosensitive recording medium at an exposure unit. As a result, a latent image is formed on the photosensitive recording medium upon photocuring the light exposed microcapsules. Then the light-exposed photosensitive recording medium is superposed with a developer sheet, and these sheets are pressed together at a pressure developing unit, so tha non photo-cured microcapsules are reptured to react the chromogenic material with the developer material, to thereby provide an output image on the developer sheet. After the pressure developing operation, the developer sheet is delivered to a thermal fixing unit where the output image is thermally fixed and an output image is obtained.
In another type of an image recording medium, a self-contained type has been known in which the encapsulated chromogenic material or dye precursor and the developer material are codepositied on one surface of a single substrate as one layer or as two contiguous layers. The self contained type is disclosed in U.S. Pat No. 4,440,846. In the transfer type, the single sheet is subjected to light irradiation and pressure developing operations to obtain the output image thereon.